England has been credited for lining up superstars. Earlier it was Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, David Beckham, and other players. Now, England has come up with a golden generation of players who’re touted to take the Name of England forward and win them titles like the World Cup, Euro, and other cups. Players like Marcus Rashford, Jack Grealish, Jadon Sancho, Kalvin Phillips, and one notable player in focus is Jude Bellingham.
Birmingham Days
Young Jude joined Birmingham City as an Under-8 player, after his stint for Stourbridge. He was so talented right from the start that he made his appearance at the age of 15 for Under-23s to Nottingham Forest U-23s.
In 2019, Bellingham became Birmingham City’s first team player at 16 years 38 days. He started in the left wing and was later eased off to central-midfield. He was used in a more advanced role once the coaches and staff were sure that he could handle the responsibility. Bellingham’s rise seems to have reached the ears of top clubs and Manchester United offered him 20 million pounds which he turned down. In the summer transfer, he was snapped up by Borussia Dortmund.
Borussia Dortmund Saga
BVB has been known for nurturing young talents like Jadon Sancho, and Erling Braut Haaland and selling them to big clubs Manchester United and City for a huge sum. They took young Bellingham for a reported fee of 25 million, making him the most expensive 17-year-old in history.
The position of Bellingham is very versatile. He has been deployed as a defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder, right midfielder, and left midfielder, and has also been used as a right-back when his team has been short of players in that position. Jude owns the midfield position.
Looking at his season heatmap, we can see that he was deployed mostly as a left-midfielder but he played in other positions too. It’s where he made most of his actions like passes, defensive work, touches, and other actions.
From the above formation, we can see that he was deployed in the deep defensive midfield position alongside Axel Witsel.
Passing
Looking at his passing, we can see that he has made a total of 2834 passes out of which 1298 passes he completed. He has made 42.98 completed passes per 90.
He was moved on to deeper role, but progressing with the ball became his utmost priority. Despite his attacking play dipped, he had a high amount of possession-based play.
He ranked in the first quadrant in progressively passing and carrying with the ball. He made 4.41 progressive passes per 90 and he made 5.50 progressively carrying the ball per match.
He had a high amount of expected chances created. He ranks 92 percentile expected assists he made and 91 percentile in expected goals. It puts him in the first quadrant, he is behind Thomas Muller who had a high number of expected assists and goals.
He is quick on feet, as he is seen dribbling past players at ease and moving to opponents box and creating shots and goal creating chances. He made 0.42 per 90 in shots creating actions and 0.08 per 90 in goals creating actions, which puts him to 99 percentile in both of these parameters.
Even he is under pressure from opposition players to stop him at his tracks, he sets up a cool and composed mind and flicks the ball to running teammates while being surrounded by other opposition players.
From the percentile chart we can see that he ranks high in possession based football. He ranks 99 percentile in progressive passes which he received. Even though despite sitting deep, he has high amount of ball creating chances.
From the heatmaps, we can see that despite him bossing the midfield position, he tends to shift to left side of the pitch. He made 19.58 touches in the attacking third per 90 and 97 percentile in the six yard box, it puts him into 85 and 97 percentile respectively.
As aforementioned, he is slick while dribbling. As he dribbles past players at ease and creates dangerous actions. He ranks 99 percentile in dribbles he attempted, and 97 percentile in dribbles he made successfully.
Here this link depicts his magical skills, which makes him the most sought after youngster in the Europe.
Defensive Work
His role has dissimilar defensive work, which is why his defensive heatmap is shown him putting defensive work in his own half and the opposition’s half. He applied most pressure in the attacking third, to get the opposition dispossessed. He ranks 96 percentile in it or he has made 5.78 applied pressure per 90.
He has a knack of blocking the passes whether it be in his own half or opposition half. He sticks out his foot, or sometimes body to stop important or dangerous passes to form into a dangerous actions. Jude has made 1.89 blocked passes per 90, which puts him into 95 percentile.
Goal Threat
Last season, Jude scored 3 goals. But from the heatmap we can see that he has been put into very good goal scoring situations, from which he should score. He needs to improve his composure and finishing in the future, if he wants to be a top midfielder in the future. He had goal conversion rate of only 7%.
Verdict
Jude Bellingham is one of the exciting prospects in the world. All eyes will be on him, as England takes on teams in the World Cup this November. It is time for him to cement his name in the folklore of English football. He needs to hone his weakness, and watch him become the world best midfielder in the world. With more than 10,000 minutes under his belt only at the age of 19. He has the world at his feet.
Next season when he’ll turn 20, expect big guns clubs like Man Utd, Man City, L’Pool, R.Mad,Barcelona knocking at the Englishman’s doors. The boy from Birmingham is taking the world by storm. This 2022–23 season we might see the explosives of the boy called Jude Bellingham.
